What are the problems with screening for ovarian cancer?
False positive results are common. The major problem with screening for ovarian cancer is that both the CA 125 test and ultrasound scanning can be abnormal in a proportion of women who do not have cancer of the ovary. These sorts of results, known as ‘false positives’, are a serious problem as they can cause a great deal of anxiety. Even worse, if the abnormalities persist, it may ultimately be necessary to perform an operation to exclude the possibility of ovarian cancer which turns out to have been unnecessary. As ovarian cancer is relatively uncommon, more abnormal screening results are due to false positive findings than are due to cancer. False negative results can occur. Most women find a normal screening result reassuring. However, neither CA 125 nor ultrasound will pick up every case of ovarian cancer. ‘False negative’ results do occur and a small number of women will be falsely reassured. What studies are in progress? Studies of women in the general population. There are two v
